Champions Again

Les Bleus: The History of French Football

Course 1 · Chapter 9 · Champions Again: 2018, 2022 and Women's Football

In 2018 France won a second World Cup, this time with a younger team under the captain of 1998, and in 2022 it came within a penalty shoot-out of a third. Meanwhile the clubs were changing, as Paris Saint-Germain became rich under Qatari ownership, and women's football, which had a longer French history than most people realised, grew in Lyon and in the national team. This chapter covers all three strands. Names, dates and scores are from general knowledge and flagged "check".

Russia 2018

The squad

Didier Deschamps (Chapter 7) built a young, fast team round Antoine Griezmann, Paul Pogba, N'Golo Kanté and the 19-year-old Kylian Mbappé, with Hugo Lloris in goal and Olivier Giroud as the centre-forward (check). It was an unusually young squad, though its style was defensive and pragmatic.

The path

France won its group with a win over Australia and Peru and a 0-0 draw with Denmark, then beat Argentina 4-3 in the round of 16 (Mbappé scoring twice), Uruguay 2-0 and Belgium 1-0 in the semi-final (check).

The final

In Moscow on 15 July 2018 France beat Croatia 4-2. The goals were an own goal by Mario Mandžukić, a penalty by Griezmann, and goals by Pogba and Mbappé (check). Deschamps became the third man to win the World Cup as player and as coach, after Mário Zagallo and Franz Beckenbauer (check).

1998 and 2018 The two wins are often compared. In 1998 France was the host, the team was seen as a surprise winner and the victory was read as a social event (Chapter 7). In 2018 France was among the favourites, the team had a more cosmopolitan outlook with players raised in the suburbs of Paris, and the reaction was more cautious about big claims for what the win meant. A South African comedian's joke that "Africa won the World Cup", and a protest by the French embassy in the United States, prompted a new debate about how France describes its players (check).

Qatar 2022

Stage (check each)Result
GroupAustralia 4-1, Denmark 2-1, a 1-0 defeat by Tunisia with a reserve team.
Round of 16Poland 3-1, with two goals by Mbappé.
Quarter-finalEngland 2-1, with goals by Aurélien Tchouaméni and Giroud; Harry Kane missed a penalty.
Semi-finalMorocco 2-0, the first African team to reach a World Cup semi-final.
FinalArgentina 3-3 after extra time, lost 4-2 on penalties. Mbappé scored a hat-trick, the first in a final since 1966, and Lionel Messi scored twice.

The final in Lusail on 18 December 2022 is often called one of the best of all time (check). Mbappé won the Golden Boot with eight goals. After the match some of the French players, including Kingsley Coman and Tchouaméni, were the target of racist abuse online (check). The tournament was also controversial because of Qatar's record on migrant labour and human rights, which was widely reported (check). Deschamps stayed as coach, and in 2025 it was announced that he would leave after the 2026 World Cup (check).

Money and Paris Saint-Germain

  • The takeover. In 2011 the Qatari state fund Qatar Sports Investments bought Paris Saint-Germain, a club founded in 1970 (check). Within a few years it was winning the league almost every season.
  • The stars. In 2017 the club bought Neymar for a world-record fee of 222 million euros and signed Mbappé, who was born in Paris and grew up in the suburb of Bondy (check).
  • The league. Ligue 1's dependence on one dominant club raised the question of whether a league with a single wealthy owner was competitive. Television rights have been a continuing problem, notably after the collapse of a broadcaster deal in 2020 (check).
  • The European record. PSG lost the Champions League final in 2020 to Bayern Munich, and won the competition for the first time in 2025 (check), becoming the second French club to do so after Marseille in 1993 (Chapter 6).
  • The other clubs. Olympique Lyonnais won seven league titles in a row from 2002 to 2008 (check). Lille, Monaco and Lens have won or challenged in other years, helped by their own academies and by selling players.

The French model, which relies on developing and selling players, is a contrast with the English one of buying them, and it is one reason why the national team has so many players at foreign clubs (check).

Women's Football

Period (check each)Story
1910s and 1920sThe Paris club Fémina Sport and women's matches with English teams, including the Dick, Kerr Ladies tour of 1920 (Chapter 2).
1941The Vichy regime banned women's football, a ban that was lifted after the war but whose effects lasted (check).
1970The federation took women's football under its wing. Stade de Reims set up a women's team and played in the unofficial World Cup in Mexico in 1971, in front of large crowds (check).
1970s and 1980sReims and other clubs won the national championship, and the national team began to play regularly (check).
2004 onwardOlympique Lyonnais Féminin was founded in 2004 and became the leading club in Europe, winning the Champions League eight times, including five in a row from 2016 to 2020 (check).
2019France hosted the Women's World Cup and reached the quarter-final, losing 2-1 to the United States in Paris (check). Television audiences were high.

Players such as Wendie Renard, Eugénie Le Sommer, Amandine Henry and Sarah Bouhaddi were at the centre of both Lyon and Les Bleues. The women's game still has less money and media coverage than the men's, but the gap has narrowed, and the history shows that "women's football is new" is a claim that does not stand up (check).

A British comparison The British link with the women's game is closer than with the men's. Scotland qualified for its first Women's World Cup in 2019, in France, and played its group matches in Nice, Rennes and Paris, losing to England and Japan and drawing 3-3 with Argentina (check). Lyon's rivals in Europe have often been English clubs such as Arsenal and Manchester City (check). On the men's side, French players such as Kanté, Giroud and Pogba have played for English clubs, and the English model of buying players is in contrast to the French one of selling them (check).
Check the details This is the freshest part of the course, and some details may have changed since it was written. Check the latest results, ownership and contract details against FIFA, UEFA, the federation and the clubs. Statements about racism and migrant labour should be taken from reliable reports. The history of women's football is less well documented than the men's, and its dates vary between sources.

Exercises

Exercise 1

Compare the 1998 and 2018 wins in a short table (setting, style, reaction) and say what the comparison suggests about the way the team is understood.

→ Solution
Exercise 2

Test the claim "Money has ruined French clubs" with the six questions, using PSG and Lyon as examples.

→ Solution
Exercise 3

Test the claim "Women's football is new in France" and say what evidence supports and undermines it.

→ Solution

Quick Reference

  • 2018: France 4-2 Croatia in Moscow; Deschamps champion as player and coach (check)
  • 2022: 3-3 with Argentina, lost on penalties; Mbappé hat-trick
  • Clubs: PSG under Qatari ownership from 2011; Lyon's seven titles in a row
  • Women: Reims in the 1970s; Lyon's Champions League wins; the 2019 World Cup